I installed a 3 speed ceiling fan with a dimmable light in the bedroom where a standard 2-wire light fixture used to be. After months of unsatisfied performance of these battery operated wall switches, I would rather have a full functioning wall switch. I have access to the junction box and all wiring for the fixture since the attic is above the ceiling. Is there a way for me to add a 3rd wire or change the wiring from the switch to the fan/light so I can install a 3 wire wall switch?
Electrical – How to rewire a three-wire ceiling fan installation where there is a two-wire set up
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Related Solutions
The type of wire you use depends on what kind of circuit you are attaching to. Go to your electrical box, find the circuit for the current light switch, and read what it is rated for (probably 15 or 20 amps). If it is 15 then you use 14-3 wire. If it is 20 then you need 12-3 wire. The "3" will give you an extra red wire and that will be used to separate your fan and light controls. If you feel that you will have additional electrical work down the road I suggest buying in the 250 feet spools. Wire goes quickly and the smaller samples are pretty costly. You might pay almost half for 25 feet what 250 would cost you.
For the switch you need to simply go to the big box and go in their fan section and they will have a few choices for fan/light combo switches. Just make sure there are two controls on the switch. I just installed the one below and it works well.
TL;DR: Whoever installed your ceiling fan had some terminal screws loose
The good news is that the green wire is unmistakably tagged as an equipment grounding conductor, and was likely not the current return path in the original wiring configuration. The bad news is that whoever originally wired this did a hack job, deciding to use some blue wire they had left over from the last hack job as a neutral wire (grounded conductor), which grossly violates NEC 200.6(A):
200.6 Means of Identifying Grounded Conductors.
(A) Sizes 6 AWG or Smaller. An insulated grounded conductor of 6 AWG or smaller shall be identified by one of the following means:
(1) A continuous white outer finish.
(2) A continuous gray outer finish.
(3) Three continuous white or gray stripes along the conductor's entire length on other than green insulation.
Now that that facepalm moment is out of the way, it's possible to fix this by nutting the blue and black conductors from the fan to the black wire from the ceiling, and the white wire from the fan to the blue wire from the ceiling. While you're up there, please, please, please tag the blue wire from the ceiling with a piece of white electrical tape -- there's no way to bring the current situation fully up to Code without ripping out the offending neutral wire and replacing it with a white or grey wire, but a tag will at least keep the next electrician's eyeballs from frying when he or she stares at your ceiling fan's wiring.
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Best Answer
pull the third wire (same gauge) through the same conduit from the fan to the switch. It possible that the conduit isn't large enough for another wire and you'll need to upgrade it. Use either red or black but make sure you can distinguish the 2 lives (like if you end up with 2 blacks you label that wire at both ends).
You then either need a second switch so one controls the light and the other the fan. Or if it is pullcord operated then the new wire will need to always live; just hook it up before the switch.